Metal highway guard support



July 6, 1943.

A. E. BRICKMAN METAL HIGHWAY GUARD SUPPORT ori inal FiledApril 29, 1941 w /0 I --/f 1120922502":

Patented July 6, 1943 METAL HIGHWAY GUARD sorron'r Alan E. Brickman, Monongahela, Pa., assignor to The American Steel and Wire Company of New Jersey, a corporation of New Jersey Original application April 29, 1941, Serial No. 390,977. Divided and this application January 31, 1942, Serial No. 429,039

1 Claim.

The present invention is a division of my cd--' pending application, Serial No. 390,977, filed April 29, 1941. The invention relates in general to a post preferably made of hot-rolled steel H-section for supporting resilient steel brackets which in turn support a conventional type of cable or plate guard rail element, the lower end of the post being provided with a wing anchor of special de* sign and construction, as hereinafter set forth in detail.

Recent trends in highway guard rail construction look with favor upon supporting the guard rail elements by means of steel posts instead of wooden posts heretofore commonly used. The advantage of being able to drive such steel posts over the old practice of digging holes as required in the case of wooden posts more than offsets the added cost of the post. However, a problem arises in connection with steel posts in that an ordinary post formed of the usual commercial shapes, such as angles, channels or H-sections, has a smooth surface which provides little or no bond to the soil for the reason that in driving the post the soil adjacent thereto is displaced or out of contact therewith.

My invention provides a wing extension in the nature of an anchor plate which is movably associated with the post arranged to move outwardly and thus resist the upward movement or uprooting of the post under impact. Although known types of fence posts have heretofore been provided with rigid wing extensions, such posts are inadequate for use in supporting highway guard rail elements for the reason that under force of impact of a colliding vehicle there is insuficient bearing to prevent the post being uplifted or pulled entirely free of the ground. The present invention aims to provide a steel or other metal post of the type which is to be driven into the ground without first digging a hole therefor, the post being equipped with a novel type of wing-like anchor plate yieldingly secured thereto in such a way that after the post is driven home and the soil packed therearound, the wing plate will swing outwardly to a limited extent. And the arrangement is such that upon the impact of a colliding vehicle with either the post or the guard rail element the anchor plate will swing outwardly to such an extent as to offer resistance designedly intended to be sufilcient to materially resist or prevent the uprooting or upward movement of the post under such colliding impact.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a cross section illustrating a highway guard rail supported by a post having my novel improvements incorporated therein;

Figure 2 is a view of the lower extremity of the post of Figure l; and

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate a face view and side elevation of the lower end of the post on an enlarged scale.

Referring in detail first to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing, the numeral l0 represents a flanged metal post preferably, although not necessarily, of H-shape in cross section. Such a post may conveniently comprise parallel flanges l2 and I4 connected by a median web 16. To the roadside flange [4 of the post there is supported a suitable resilient steel bracket H which in turn carries a plurality of cables i8 which jointly form a guard rail element. The bracket I1 and guard rail element form no part of the present invention and may take various forms familiar to those skilled in the art.

Th particular feature of novelty of the present invention relates to the design and arrangement of the lower end of the post, For example, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the roadside flange l4 terminates at the point 20 and it is thus materially shorter than the opposite flange l2. The web of the post is cut away on the inclined line 22 so as to form a relatively sharp driving point 24. This design and arrangement permits of an easy starting operation in initially driving the post in the ground since the shortened roadside flange lessens the initial driving resistance. However, after the driving of the post has been initially started and the same has been plumbed up during the driving, continued driving force will cause the flange Hi to enter the soil.

The specific feature of novelty claimed herein relates to the provision of the wing-like anchor plate, such as shown at 42, which is yieldingly or pivotally connected or associated with the shortened roadside flange M.

The pivotal connection between the post and anchor plate is illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. A pair of ears 3838 are struck outwardly from the flange of the post so as to form a fulcrum or seat for the shoulder portionslll of the anchor plate 42. The plate is provided at its lower extremity with a depending tongue 44 and a small screw 46 is utilized to connect the plate to the post in such a way that the plate can yield or be bent outwardly as suggested by the dotted lines in Figure 4 under force of a colliding vehicle with either the guard rail element or the post. The tapering form and the slenderness of the tongue 44 as illustrated in Figure 3 favors the flexing of the anchor plate at the time of impact.

Ordinarily a pointed H-section steel support, when driven in yieldable soil, will bend inwardly under influence of collision impact with the guard rail and fail at its weakest section, which is at the point beyond the flange extremity 20 shown in Figure 1. Under my invention the provision of anchorage means sets up a resistance at the end of the roadside flange I4 which is the tension flange. Thus relief is advantageously provided at the point which is normally the Weak or pointed end of the post. Therefore under my invention a longer pointed end can be maintained because of the anchorage resistance provided at the lower end of the tension or roadside flange of the post.

While I have described quite precisely a certain specific embodiment of the invention herein illustrated, it is to be understood that various modifications may be made by skilled artisans without departure from the invention as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

A metal supporting post adapted to support a guard rail element, the post having a web and parallel flanges constituting an H-section, one of the said flanges having spaced fulcrum ears struck outwardly therefrom, an anchor plate with a downwardly depending tongue adapted to be positioned between said ears, and means for securing said tongue to the post at a point below the ears whereby the anchor plate is yieldingly secured to the post with freedom to permit outward movement under force of impact of 2, vehicle colliding with either the post or the guard rail element supported thereby so as to thus resist upward movement of the post, said plate having shoulders on opposite sides of said tongue seated on said ears and adapted to fulcrum thereon when the free end of the plate moves outwardly.

ALAN E. BRICKMAN. 

